Scientists in Australia have found that long, shallow trenches running across the Nullarbor Plain are the surface signature of much deeper cave systems, ABC News reports.
The Nullarbor covers around 200,000 square kilometres of limestone country, where water has slowly dissolved the rock into a hidden world of caves. Some of the trenches stretch 20 kilometres and are hundreds of metres wide but only a couple of metres deep. Researchers led by Associate Professor Milo Barham of Curtin University, working with speleologist Dr Steve Milner, have shown these features map the caves beneath.
The work helps with managing limestone aquifers, which a quarter of the world’s people rely on for water. It could also help space agencies: Barham says caves offer shelter from radiation, making them promising places to look for Martian life and even to site future bases.
Source: ABC News